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Senator Calls For Apple To Pull App That Lets Users Create Their Own Driver's Licenses
Apparently there is an app, imaginatively called "Driver's License," that allows users to create phony driver's licenses for the purposes of entertaining themselves and others (because there is nothing funnier than a bogus form of ID). But at least one U.S. Senator thinks the app can be used by ne'er-do-wells and should be pulled from the Apple app store.
Senator Bob Casey from the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania sent a letter to new Apple CEO Tim Cook voicing his concerns about the app and asking the company to remove it from its offerings.
"Applications shouldn't facilitate law-breaking, which is exactly what this app does. Apple should shut it down immediately," Senator Casey said. "Pennsylvania just took a major step toward making our licenses more secure and an application like this undermines that effort. This app could allow criminals to deceive authorities or enable children to purchase tobacco or alcohol illegally."
Herewith the letter from Senator Casey:
Dear Mr. Cook:
I write to express my concern with "License" by DriversEd.com, an application available for download in Apple's App Store which can be used to create counterfeit identity documents. I believe this application poses a threat to public safety and national security, and I request that you remove it from the App Store immediately.
By downloading "License", anyone with an iPhone or iPad can easily manufacture a fake driver's license by taking a photo and inserting it into one of fifty state driver's licenses' templates. Users then have a high quality image resembling an actual driver's license which they can easily print, laminate, and use for any number of illegal and fraudulent activities. While DriversEd.com markets the app as a fun game, it can also be used in a way that allows criminals to create a new identity, steal someone else's identity, or permit underage youth to purchase alcohol or tobacco illegally. National security systems depend on the trustworthiness of driver's licenses, yet with a counterfeit license created by this app, a terrorist could bypass identity verification by the Transportation Security Administration, or even apply for a passport.
While identity fraud is not a new problem, the use of readily available technology to facilitate this crime is of particular concern. By assisting in the creation of counterfeit driver's licenses, "License" threatens to ease deception by criminals and contribute to the rising problem of identity theft. Given these risks, I request that you remove this application from the App Store immediately, as well as any other available applications that allow users to create, steal or alter false identities. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Robert P. Casey, Jr.
United States Senator
Longtime Consumerist readers may remember this story from 2007 about Walmart pulling a version of the Superbad DVD that contained a bogus McLovin driver's license.
For those who want to make their own fake licenses, here's the iPhone app [at least until it possibly disappears]
Source: consumerist.com